Charles D. Taylor is an American author known for his technothrillers, particularly the Bernie Ryng series, which presents Cold War-era naval conflicts set in the near future. His writing emphasizes action at sea and geopolitical tensions. His Bernie Ryng series includes First Salvo, Choke Point, Counterstrike, and Deep Sting. He has also written standalone novels such as Show of Force, which explores the brink of World War Three, as well as Silent Hunter, War Ship, Boomer, Shadow Wars, Sightings, and Summit. Taylor's work is marked by detailed military strategy and a focus on naval warfare, reflecting his deep knowledge of the subject.
Written as though this were a summary after action report. Great story layout and action sequencees. The battle action scenes portray the speed and destruction of todays naval combat. Well written and enjoyable story.
Upon a second read some 20+ years after the first this book lost much of its "charm" and luster. As noted in a progress update this example of Cold War-porn is woefully obsolete thanks to the demise of the USSR proving all these doomsday war scenarios to so-much blood-thirsty fantasy. Aside from that complaint I now found factual errors that I obviously did not recall. Ship names flipped, various positioning of weapons-systems as mounted as mistakenly depicted to be in the wrong locations as attack-damage is gloriously spelled out in detail. I am being generous with the one star-demotion because it could easily be a 2.5 star story after this second read. I may yet re-think my plan to re-read the other Charles D. Taylor novels I've kept archived.
This book reminds me of Tom Clancy's RED STORM RISING, relocated to the Mediterranean Sea. For the most part, the action, and there is a lot of it, is handled by the naval forces of the combatant nations. The cost of the conflict, in men and material is astronomical. The ending just sort of happens, and even then, the aggressor nation appears to hold on to all of their territorial gains, despite asking for the cease fire.
I liked it. First it is a little difficult to understand what is happening. The storyline is good but in the end the Americans always win. This somehow lets you down. All in all I think it was a good book but I would not recommend it to anyone who hasn't read naval warfare before.